After Midnight with Boston Blackie

There's Boston Blackie again getting mixed up with other people's diamonds: an old pal from jail days, who's just been released himself, asks him to collect the very valuable diamonds he'd stolen and hidden in order to secure his daughter's future. But, of course, there are other crooks as well who want to get their hands on the jewels - and so, there are the familiar chases again, Blackie's caught once more by Inspector Faraday in front of an open safe; arrests, escapes, murders... And which day out of all does he (or rather, the gang that tries to track him and the diamonds down) pick for all those asphalt jungle adventures? His friend's, the Runt's wedding day! So you can just guess how many times the ceremony is delayed... until a VERY surprising ending!

Another very entertaining - and VERY inventive on the part of the authors! - Boston Blackie tale, with Chester Morris in GREAT shape: this time he even does a short black face comedy to get into the top gangster's house! And all this hokum mixes surprisingly well with some 'tougher' crime movie moments; a great treat not only for 'Boston Blackie' addicts!

Now to be fair, this time, to "Insp. Farraday" (Richard Lane) he has marginally more to base his suspicions on when he apprehends "Blackie" (Chester Morris) red handed in possession of some gems! We know that he's just fetching them from a safety deposit box on behalf of the daughter of the man who pinched them in the first place. He was being coerced by his "associates" to return the loot, but when he is killed it falls to "Betty" (Ann Savage) to work with "Blackie" to prove his innocence and to apprehend the folks who killed her father. Again, it's a tightly cast and well paced drama with an on form Morris working well with the slightly more substantial role played by Savage and with Lloyd Corrigan and the soon to be married "Runt" (George E. Stone) contributing well as this wartime feel-good thriller keeps us entertained easily enough for an hour of predicable cat and mouse antics with a hint of diamond-laced legerdemain!

Turner Classic Movies just recently showed most of these mystery films starring Chester Morris and while they are pretty good B-detective films, they are also very, very formulaic--even for the genre. I practically saw all of these movies and the same stupid inspector and his subhuman sidekick are accusing the hero of committing the crimes in question. And, each time, Boston solves the crime for them--making their idiocy apparent again and again and again. You'd think that these bumblers would be fired and that any cop with a functioning cortex would realize the best thing to do it just sit back and let him solve the crime! Plus, in the process, the Inspector almost always gets himself captured or is tricked. At first, this is all pretty funny, but by the time this film came out, the formula was wearing a bit thin. They could have easily kept most of the formula but also had the cops not always been so stupid--this would have greatly improved the films.

This film isn't much different from the rest--having a pretty standard plot involving stolen diamonds and a vicious gang who will stop at nothing to get them. Of course, as usual our hero is blamed by the moronic cops for everything and as usual, he is able to easily outwit them. Frankly, if he had played peek-a-boo or "got your nose" with these policemen, they probably would have been surprised again and again--they were just THAT stupid. The only plus is that at the end, the stupid Sergeant did a much better job than usual assisting.

There was one small scene, by the way, that truly amazed me. The detective and Runt were in a cab being followed by the police in another cab. The hero then told the cabbie to pull over. Then, after doing this he told the guy to "back up into the cab behind us"...and the guy DID!!! I'd love to find a cabbie that compliant. I might tell him to give me all his cash, then get out of the cab and drop his pants and sing show tunes!

The Runt is getting married—that is, if his and Blackie's wealthy friend Arthur can manage to keep the few principals involved in the wedding assembled in his house for more than thirty seconds. Blackie, however, is occupied helping an old friend's daughter sort out a mystery involving the missing father, some diamonds he had hidden and a gang of crooks who will stop at nothing to seize those diamonds. Of course, Inspector Farraday and his dumb assistant Matthews are on hand, slapping Blackie with any charge handy and letting Blackie slip away as needed to work on the actual solving of the case.

Cy Kendall is particularly oily as the head villain here, even though he had appeared in at least two previous series outings as an old underworld pal of Blackie's. Walter Sande as Detective Matthews is wonderfully hapless as comic foil and brunt of insults for both Farraday and Blackie. (Farraday making a point: "I have Matthews as a witness!" Blackie: "Well, I wouldn't brag about that.")

A handful of comments and events in the film allude to the war—particularly a scene set during a blackout when cops, bad guys and Blackie and friends are all chasing each other around in the dark. But for the most part, this is your standard escapist B mystery featuring familiar characters, plentiful comic relief and an easy-to-follow plot about diamonds and murder.

We never do find out if Blackie's "ulcer remedy" that he shares with Farraday is the real stuff, or just a trick. I suspect a trick, since one of the ingredients is ketchup.

After Midnight with Boston Blackie (1943)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Fifth film in Columbia's series is still going pretty well with Chester Morris returning as Boston Blackie. In this film, Boston tries to help out a friend but when that friend is murdered and his diamonds stolen, Blackie is the lead suspect by the always dimwitted Captain Flannigan (Richard Lane). This is no great masterpiece but if you enjoy the series then you should get enough kicks out of this entry even though there isn't anything new here. As usual, Morris is highly entertaining in the title role and he acts wonderfully well with Lane. The two of them add a lot of comedy to the mix, which is good since the actual case isn't all too strong. Ann Savage adds nice support as the friend's daughter. Lew Landers (The Raven) directs once again.